


Baby you showed me what livin' is for

by yeehawnarrie (Delavalliere)



Category: One Direction (Band), Taylor Swift (Musician)
Genre: Other, Pining Harry, They're Just Best Friends, but i guess it's narry too if you can put up with the haylor lol, i just wanted fluffy haylor friendship with a side of narry pining, platonic haylor, taylor helps harry admit he's an idiot and call niall, that's what this is, this is neither a narry story nor is it a haylor one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 21:50:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17795372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delavalliere/pseuds/yeehawnarrie
Summary: "Harry, if someone knows how much of a risk love is, it's me. And I know you're scared but if you don't do it you're gonna think of the 'what ifs' for the rest of your life. I just want you to be happy."This is the only thing Harry truly hates about being friends with Taylor Swift: she knows him. She knows him so well she can read him so easily it scares him sometimes.//Or the one where Taylor is the sea, helping Harry find his home.





	Baby you showed me what livin' is for

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Crazier" by Taylor Swift

Being in Taylor's house has always been intimidating for Harry, more so now than when they used to date. He always feels out of place in her traditional romantic decor when he's more like a piece of pop art, like he doesn't quite match the rest of the collection but he's also somehow meant to be part of the exhibition. Funny how that's also how he feels about Taylor in the general sense.

He had been in Tokyo celebrating his birthday when he got a text message that simply said ' _hbd_   _you should come around for dinner some time, i'll bake a cake_ ' and next thing he knew he was in a plane landing in London and asking her to text him her address so he could take a taxi there. She had always had that effect in Harry, a necessity to go to her whenever he so much even thought about her. Ed always said she was like the Sun and everyone else in her life were planets orbiting around her, how she could do without them but they all needed her to keep on moving. He was right. 

Her new London house is different than the one she had before. For one it's an actual house and not just a flat, but the feeling of it it's different, too. Instead of looking like a convenient place to crash out whenever she's in town it looks like the home Harry has always dream of. There's open magazines and scrips thrown in the coffee table, some clothes on the couch and Meredith spread about in the rug in the formal living room. It looks like she's found her place, finally. 

"Harry," she says sweetly at the same time that she hugs him, and Harry can smell the same perfume she's worn since he knows her. "I've missed your ugly face." 

"I thought I had a James Dean daydream look," he says kissing her cheek. 

"Whoever said that it's an idiot."

Her laugh surrounds him like a warm blanket in a chilly night. It's familiar and comfortable and missed when it's gone.

"Sit," she says, pointing at the couch like a master with a dog. He should be ashamed of how fast he complies. "I lied to you, by the way. I didn't bake a cake, was too lazy for it. But I got us Chinese takeout and a couple of slices of red velvet from that bakery you like."

"Shameful, Tay. What would sweet Andrea say if she found out you're treating a guest to takeout?"

"I imagine it would be the same thing Anne would if she found out you sent a Gucci gift card as a birthday present." 

"Touché," Harry agrees, eyeing the Cats script open at her lines. There's a couple more scripts around which reminds Harry of her boyfriend. "Joe is not around?"

"Nope," Taylor says from the kitchen counter, taking the takeout out of the cardboard boxes and into some plates. "He's out at his parents'. Patrick just broke up with his girlfriend and he's a mess, so he's being a good big brother and cheering him up."

"Huh, I thought breakups were your thing," he jokes, moving to sit at one of the stools at the counter. Taylor rolls her eyes and gives him the finger. 

"Do you want us to trade places? I'll go help Patrick and I'll have Joe serve you dinner," she jokes. 

"Why not?" he shrugs, picking at his food with his hand. "He's a good lad."

"He doesn't like you."

"Yeah, that too." 

They catch up through dinner. Taylor tells him what's going on in her life since they last talked at her birthday: she's already recording her new album but might not tour it, she's thinking about selling her L.A. house, she's not currently speaking to Zayn because he cheated on Gigi, she likes filming Cats but doesn't think acting is her thing. In exchange Harry tells him about his recent fight with Gemma and his time in Tokyo writing his second album. They talk and talk and before they notice they're sitting at the grass in her backyard passing a bottle of whiskey between them even though it's freezing outside and Taylor doesn't even like whiskey. Harry doesn't even remember eating his cake.

"We could have been so great together," Harry says, drunk on whiskey and high on the company, his head in Taylor's lap and Olivia sleeping on his stomach. "We could have gotten married and be a power couple, like Beyoncé and Jay-Z."

"Yeah," Taylor hums in agreement, one hand going to pet his hair and the other taking the bottle to his lips to take another sip. "Have a couple children, invest in some businesses, and we wouldn't have divorced like a good catholic couple even if we didn't love each other. We could have grown old together because it's better than doing it alone."

"Platonic life companions. Like when a gay man marries a lesbian to make their families happy." 

"Not a lesbian," she says, a laugh caught in her voice like that's some sort of internal joke. Harry has half a mind to remember she's been dealing with her own version of Larry lately, even when she no longer hangs out with Karlie. "But yeah, something like that."

Harry lets her alone with her thoughts and goes to pet Olivia's soft fur. He remembers when he first met her, all tiny and white, back when he and Taylor were taking a break from their breakup and sleeping together whenever they felt like it. He had gone to her New York flat to find her trying to make Meredith like the tiny kitten to no success. 

_"She's beautiful. I love her and now she's mine," he had announced as soon as he laid eyes on her trying to jump out of Taylor's lap._

_She had just shrugged and said "Olivia Benson-Styles-Swift."_

And just like that Harry was now co-parent to a cat. At least she liked him, not like Meredith who still to this day hisses at him when she sees him. Harry thinks it's because after adopting Olivia as his own, he and Taylor had broken up for good and Meredith never forgave him.

After their breakup - _the real one, in summer 2014, not the one at the ski resort_ \- Harry had been a proper mess. He had thought himself in love with her and planning a life together in his head, and she had wanted him to _'follow what your heart really wants, Harry'_. But Harry didn't knew what it was Taylor was so sure he wanted, it had taken him a couple of more years and a band hiatus to realize what Taylor had noticed all that time back. And even then, he had been so sad about it because Taylor understood him in a way none of his other exes had, not even Grimmy or Kendall, and he didn't want to lose that. 

He didn't hear of her until October of that year, when she had texted him the audio file for _Style_ and a single red heart emoji, and after that it was smooth sailing between the both of them. They were good friends, Harry might even reach a bit and call them best friends. While the public was out there making wild rumors about feuds and digs at each other, they would be talking on the phone at least once a month and getting together for dinner whenever they were in the same city. Harry had been the first person to listen to the complete version of 1989 and Taylor was the one who told Harry to include _Perfect_ in the Made in the A.M. album. 

_"People are gonna know it's about you," he had said to her._

_"I have a song with your name in it, H, I think I'm fine with people knowing you wrote about me, too."_

He had been there when Taylor broke up with Calvin Harris, and when she broke up with Tom. There were a couple of months when she went on hiding he didn't knew about her, but Ed had assured him she was safe and fine, she just needed space, so Harry gave it to her. It wasn't until one night she called at 3 a.m. to tell her she was seeing someone, an actor named Joe who also was English and how he had taken her out for drink because he didn't care what people said about her, that he knew for sure she was fine, she was gonna be fine for the rest of her life. (Harry almost got a bit of a panic about it, afraid Taylor could go on without Harry when he needed her so much.)

"Have you spoken to Niall recently?" Taylor asks, taking him away of his daydreaming. Her eyes spark with that quality unique to her, like innocence and wisdom all rolled into one. Sometimes Harry feels like she's wiser than she should be for her age.

"Not yet," he says, hands still buried in the softness of his cat daughter's fur. "We talked a bit on my birthday, and we texted a little today, but not really. Why?" 

He's afraid of her answer, because he knows whatever she tells him it's gonna make sense and it's gonna dance around his head for months and he's gonna have to talk himself out of doing something stupid like telling Niall he's in love with him. 

"You should. I would like it if you brought him as your date to my wedding."

"To your..." It takes Harry a couple seconds to truly understand the words she just said and when he moves from her lap to drape her in a bear hug it's just pure instinct. He makes a mental trip trying to remember if he missed the ring but then he remembers she hates using rings if she doesn't have to.

"You're getting married," he says to her neck, and she shakes with her laugh, louder than usual because she's so drunk. Harry can feel the cold of the necklace Joe gave to her against his cheek.

"I'm getting married," she says. She gets out of his hug to look at him directly in the eyes before she speaks again, and her eyes remind him too much of his mother to be appropriate. "I want you to go, Harry, and I want you to take Niall with you."

"It'd be madness if I go," he says, purposefully ignoring the second part of what she said, maybe if he pretends it's not there she'll stop. 

"Nonsense," she dismisses him getting up from the grass to get back inside the house, the bottle of whiskey still in her hand and much more empty than when they grabbed it from the mini bar. She's even graceful when she's drunk, Harry hates her so much. "You're my friend and if anyone thinks there's something going on between you and me because you're there when I marry another man, it's on them."

Harry laughs and follows her inside, not even a quarter as graceful as her when he almost falls to his ass three times in the twenty feet he walks. 

"What if they think I'm there to interrupt your wedding? We always said I would."

"You wouldn't put your daughter through that embarrassment, would you now?" she laughs and Harry can't help but look back at the garden, but Olivia is no longer there. He whimpers a bit because he's not sure when he's gonna be able to see her again.

"Guess not. Guess I should be a good father and show her I support your decisions." 

"You should. You should also call Niall."

"You're not gonna give up on that, are you?" he sighs hitting his head on the kitchen counter just to be dramatic. He has rights to be dramatic, his first real love just told him she's getting married and he should confess his feelings to the man he didn't knew was in love with before he even met her. They would make a terrible soap opera.

"You promised you would when the bad went on hiatus. And then you promised again you would you dropped your album. And when his album came out," her hand moves to pet his hair again and Harry pretends he's one of her cats and leans on her touch. "Harry, if someone knows how much of a risk love is, it's me. And I know you're scared but if you don't do it you're gonna think of the 'what ifs' for the rest of your life. I just want you to be happy." 

This is the only thing Harry truly hates about being friends with Taylor Swift: she knows him. She knows him so well she can read him so easily it scares him sometimes. She's like an older and wiser sister, he thinks, and then slaps himself mentally because he has an actual older sister and she would kill him if she knew he gave the role to his ex-girlfriend turned best friend. But she's right, of course she is, and Harry hates it. 

"What if he rejects me?" his voice is barely audible with his mouth pressed to the marble of the counter, but Taylor hears him all the same.

"What if he doesn't? All I'm saying it's that you should, if you wanna, but I'm not forcing you, love."

 _That's even worse_ , Harry thinks, because if she was forcing him he could dismiss it. But he can hear genuine concern in her voice. He opens his mouth to say something else or maybe argue with her a little when he hears the door opening and then some steps walking towards them before Joe's voice carries to the kitchen.

"Taylor?" his English drawl, more pronounced than Harry's own after so many years living outside England, snaps him out of his dramatic stunt and he sits straight on the stool, back rigid like he's trying to make himself look taller. 

"I should go home," he tells Taylor, looking at the place where his voice comes from, like he's getting ready for a fight. 

She just nods her head at the same time she yells at Joe saying she's at the kitchen. "Harry's just leaving. Would you mind calling a car? I don't trust him to get to his house by himself." 

"Of course," it's all Joe says, nodding at Harry in that way people say 'hi, and goodbye' to acquaintances when they meet on the street or at the same aisle at the shops. Just barely acknowledging each other. It's okay, he doesn't like him either...

Taylor walks him to the door once the car arrives and hugs him goodbye as always, and he kisses her cheek as always, but somehow it feels like something's changed between them in the best way. Like there's no longer expectations or questionings between them, like there was something tainting the air between them and it's finally gone. It's not until he's at his own bed starring at the ceiling that he realizes it's because he's finally let go of her. She's no longer Taylor Swift, ex-girlfriend and possible love of his life, the one that got away; she's Taylor, who broke up with him because she found out he was in love with his bandmate and wanted him to be happy. She's his soulmate in the most platonic of senses. 

 _i think you might be my best friend_ , he texts her, not wanting to go to sleep and forget about it.

 _thats really fucking sad h_ , she texts back almost immediately, _but same just dont tell ed_

He falls asleep with a smile and better than he's done in a good while, and when he wakes up the next morning he feels lighter. There's a new message from Niall waiting for him on his phone when he goes to check what time it is and he opens it without worrying once.

_when u reckon you're back in la ? we should book some tee time !  miss you bro_

He doesn't even stops to think about the time difference between London and Los Angeles or how Niall could be busy when instead of texting back he decides to press the 'call' button next to Niall's name on his screen, and he listens to the phone ring three, four times before Niall picks up.

"Harry!"

"Hey, Ni," he says, voice dragging with sleep still. "Did you knew Taylor is getting married?"

"Swift?" Niall asks, and Harry just hums in agreement. "Please tell me it's not to you."

"Ha! Can you imagine? The Sun would have a field day about it, we'd be on the cover of every bad magazine." Niall's laugh is loud on the phone speaker and Harry knows this is what Taylor always meant when she talked about true love, about how it feels. He likes the feeling. "She told me yesterday. I went to her place in London for dinner, I think she might have done it so I don't try to stop it at the church."

"Good, we don't want disasters happening," he says, smile evident in his voice. "I'm glad you're still friends with her."

"Yeah, me too," and before he can convince himself not to he says: "I was thinking you should come with me. As in like, my date."

There's a moment where there's not a single sound in the line and Harry's afraid Niall has hang up on him, but then he hears what might be a chuckle and then his voice again. "How about you come here and take me to a proper date first? I've waited three years for you to ask, I'm not having our fist date at your ex's wedding, even if it's Taylor Swift." 

"I'm booking the first fly back, okay?"

"Okay," Harry can hear Niall's breath through the phone and he feels like another weight has lifted from his shoulders. Taylor would be proud of him.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Come directly to mine, okay?" Niall says. "And tell Taylor thanks, for whatever she said to you."

"Will do," he replies, and the call cuts. He would be offended if not because he understands Niall must be feeling the same as he does, like the air when it charges with electricity before a storm or the anticipation of good news. 

He's waiting in Heathrow for his flight to the States when he decides to text Taylor again and let her know he's finally done it and he's going home to Niall, _finally_. But then when he types what comes out reads: _ed thinks you're like the sun, but he's wrong. you're like the sea, beautiful at calm and unpredictable during a storm. but you always take me home. ily_

She replies with the middle finger and red heart emojis.

**Author's Note:**

> It's technically still Valentine's Day where I'm from, so I didn't fail on posting today! (Also I can't believe I actually managed to have something ready for today) I would like to thank my lovely baby pandas Gwen, Meike and Natalie for believing I could whip something up for today and for putting up with all my Haylor nonsense, even when it involves Narry, you're the real troopers here.
> 
> And Fhey, if you're reading this, I'm sorry I didn't have your fic ready for today. I promise I'm working on it and I hope I can have it posted before the end of the month, so many thanks for the patience! 
> 
> Even tho this is technically reviewed I'm sure I missed some mistakes so if you catch any let me know here or in my [tumblr](http://www.narriewithane.tumblr.com) (there's no Haylor there, I promise, I keep that on a separate [blog](http://www.isntitdellicate.tumblr.com) lol) but also if you want to just come and say hello you'll make me so happy!


End file.
